Singapore Sling(named after the film of the same name by Greek director Nikos Nikolaidis) were formed back in 2000 by Henrik Björnsson who is also a founding member of Dead Skeletons and former member of Bang Gang in the wild and darkness of Reykjavik, Iceland. Psycho Fuck is the bands 8th album release and opens with a cover Dive In with only the lyrics remaing from the original rap song. Musically sounds like a mix of The Jesus & Mary Chain, The KVB, Koban and Suicide – a perfect slice of sonics for the senses! Nice! Let It Roll, Let It Rise – a great song for the dancefloor will appeal to fans of The Jesus & Mary Chain, Early Primal Scream and The Defectors. Love it! ÆJL sounds like a great mix of the Fuzztones and a slowed down Cramps guitar. Great! Na Na Now vocals remind me a bit of early The Leather Nun with musically mix of The Primitives and the live intensity of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry in the 80’s. Wow! Try – Fuzztastic bad dream. The Underground – a subliminal psychedelic ballad. Dying Alive – has a mix of Pulp, The Primitives, Suicide and a hint of The KVB. Love it! Give Me Some Other sounds like classic – The Jesus & The Mary Chain. Great! Glitter – reminds me of very early That Petrol Emotion in places. Nice! Astronaut –Iggy & The Stooges and The Jesus & Mary Chain trapped in an sonic airlock in space. Love it! Shithole Town – has a Lou Reed feel, dark and very psychedelic. The Tower Of Foronicity – brings the album to a close and you will be already be pressing play again as this is a great release. I can’t wait to see them live next year on one of the dates on their tour. A Breath of Fuzzair 😉

The Underground Youth formed in Manchester in 2009 and have just released their 8th album Haunted on Fuzz Club records. I think I first became aware of the band after hearing their great cover of The Chameleons Second Skin on the Dark & Cold sound of The Blog That Celebrates Itself.

Tha album opens with a track that was released as a single Collapsing Into Night a minimal ambient drone gives birth to a spark that ignites a burning flame of post-punk melancholia casting a dark shadow across the aural senses. Lovely!Haunted reminds me a bit in places of Phil Boa mixed with minimal electronic keys and a driving dark pop guitar sound which will have you on the dancefloor.Nice! Dreaming With Maya Deren is possible my favourite track on the album with a hint of Koban classic postpunk guitars and hint of fuzz with some great pounding percussion guarantees a smash on any dancefloor! Gloom tinged lyrics complete this masterpiece!Self Inflicted opens with a frenzied Hitchockesque piano which bleeds into a dark dirge like aural blast of postpunk sparseness. Great! Drown In Me – continues the underlying ambient minimal electronic feel before giving way to pounding drums and 80’s feeling minimal synths. The addition of guitars adds to the sweet melancholia.The Girl Behind

– is like a uptempo version of The Cure’s Catch- Great! Slave – has a slighly experimental feel but fits perfectly in the realms on the album. Deep Inside Of Me – Very dark and thought provoking lyrics. Love it! Returning To Shadow – brings the album to close with a dark twisted slice of postpunk sonic! Nice!

After hearing this album your first reaction will be to check when they are playing as the concerts would be quite a unique experience. They have
some gigs on the Horizon including

Arriving back in Prague on 27th August two things struck me immediately – how much I had missed the city (its people, atmosphere, and the excellent Czech food and drink) and how hot it was compared to the UK – a scorching 30C.

Large Bone above The Roxy bar

In the evening I went to the Roxy Club to catch Viet Cong melting in a sea of Tote Bags and Hipsters. A great concert, despite the heat. At a nearby mini market I discovered a great selection of full skull shaped absinth bottles but it was impossible to get a picture. After the gig I went with my old friend Pavel to record an interview and play some songs on Dark Wave Radio Wave

Day 1 of the PGT10 and The Sanctuary CZ crew pulled out all the stops to make this the most memorable one so far. What a great decision to have a Gothic cruise to kick start the weekend. Great music from the Sanctuary DJ’s and DJ Totentanz made the perfect soundtrack for a cruise in darkness. Somehow a normal couple made it on board and started to make the usual conversation along the lines ” So are you guys vampires?” They were assured we weren’t, however it was suggested if they would like they would like to make their way below they were welcome to take part in the human sacrifice 😉
This cruise will be a lasting memory for everyone fortunate enough to be on board. Great start!

Despite being melted by the heat following a 20 minute mid morning visit to the zoo I think it was around 35 at 12.00 I managed to cool down at the excellent Artists and Prophets at Narodni Galerie which dispelled my belief that the USA was responsible for hippies in the 60’s and 70’s as it is infact the Germans to blame for the birth of the hippies especially Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach who modelled himself on Jesus and nearly founded GOD GMBH for his hippie commune and followers. It was then pointed out in the evening that it might explain why hippies like VW beetles 😉

Klub 007 Strahov one of the oldest clubs in Prague for live music played host’s to two excellent bands Totenwald & Horror Vacui.

Not the easiest of venues to get to, so a big thanks to the Gothic people familiar with Prague for ensuring I got there and back without getting lost 😉 Well worth the effort to get there and not just because it had Rekordelig pear cider but great sound and atmosphere.

What a great end to a great event. A big thanks to Ez, Pavel, Nephilim, Samgarr, Paesant, Va & Anna, The Sanctuary crew and everyone else who by being there made the event great 😉 Look forward to be back in Prague a lot sooner than my last visit 🙂

Despite Jet2’s best efforts to re-enact the experience of death by being locked in a sweat box in Japanese prisoner of war camp or to imagine one is a boil in the bag meal after the idiots had everyone incarcerated on the plane for nearly 60 mins with no doors open, no aircon working due to a technical problem, and no water. The temp outside was at least 35C and inside around 45c but luckily we didn’t end up here despite being ill from it.

Another Hot Night on the dance floor and in the venue. Thanks to everyone who came along and made it a great night 😉 To top it off there was a real bat flying around my head in the car park when I was packing my gear up 😉 Darklands returns next month on the 3rd Saturday – 15th August

Screature formed in 2008 in Sacaremento, California and released their debut album “Screature” in 2013. Four Columns is their latest album release and what terrifying magnificent monster it is! The album burst’s into life with Plastic Point Of View – The guitars have a mix of early Stories For Boys smashing into L7. Great! Liz has a very powerful vocal delivery reminds a bit of Scarlet Remains. Very tight drums and bass make for an impressive powerhouse dark punk punch! Yes! Crumbling – Liz’s vocals totally eclipse Gitane Demone and Great guitars from Chris Orr. what an epic slice of psycho dark punk to set the dancefloor on fire. Love it! Down Boys shows what is missing from the current deathrock scene. Love the way the keyboards and guitars weave together. Damn catchy! Faceless– The guitars remind me very much of early Chrome with a hint of early PIL in the bass and drums. Powered on by a great vocal delivery.Epic! Half Past Midnight wow!. The guitars sound like The Cramps played at the speed of The Ramones. The sound of Dark Punk disco inferno. Great! Lost Ones – is one of the longer tracks on the album at around 4 minutes in length. This has very strong Chrome feel in the music but the vocals and guitar work lift it to a new level. Liz’s vocals are as good as Gitane Demone or Diamanda Galas. Epic!

One Hundred Lies unleashes the Fuzz guitar sound definately one for fans of The Fuzztones. Another bomb for the dancefloor! Love it! Channel F has some very nice choppy high speed Killing Joke guitars. Yet another track to firebomb the dancefloor. Great! Laws of Intrigue– the perfect song to get out of control on the dancefloor reminds me of classic early Christian Death.Bop! High Rise Escape – If The Doors had been a punk band with a female vocalist they might have sounded as great as this!Wow! Graves & Heirs is the A-Bomb that explodes at the end of the album. A punkpsychofuzzbilly Masterpiece! What a kin great album! I really hope Screature will be invited to the UK as they are at the top of my must see list and they should be at the top of yours!

On the last night of 24th Wave Gothic Gotik Treffen in Leipzig I had the priviledge of catching Astari Nite’s gig at Moritzbastei. Whilst most people might have opted to see the usual established names, I am always keen to see new bands and hear new music and what an inspired choice it was to go to this gig. Right from the off the band had the moritzbastei rocking, and after a couple songs everyone seemed to be dancing. Their live performance totally blew me away with their great mix of New Wave, Darkwave, and alternative sounds. The mark of a great band is to eclipse their recorded sound live and the five members of Astari Nite did this exceptionally well. When music is this great I always feel elevated after the gig which used to be the case all the time in the 80’s & early 90’s when seeing bands live. It’s also how I felt after Schonwald & Ash Code. Astari Nite have their own sound but if you like bands like The Bravery, She Wants Revenge, Interpol, Into Paradise, Judith, The Church, The Chamelons, The Sun & The Moon, Wire Train, Autobahn, Cactus World News, The Mighty Lemondrops, The Jesus & Mary Chain, New Wave and Darkwave you must see this band live! Loved it!

Astari Nite will have a new album out later this year and I for one can’t wait to hear it and catch this amazing band live again! Here is a retro review of their last two releases.

The album opens with Contentment which will have you bouncing on the dancefloor, great vocal delivery, tight bass and drums and epic guitar work make this a classic 80’s sounding new wave anthem. Love it! Astrid-Another boot shaker for the dancefloor feverishly damn catchy new wave. Great! Next is the exceptional darkwave flavoured track Pyramids. Great electronics in flux with a powerful New Wave fist to pound the dancefloor. A Masterpiece and epic live!Coven – Powerhouse dark pop/cure tinged classic nice! I.O 1987 After hearing this song for the first, I added the band to my list of must see bands. What a great track! For me this is as good as anything released by She Wants Revenge and I can see this featuring often when I DJ. This should be a dark dancefloor smash! Great live too! Love it!Prayer For Lovers – has the perfect New wave pop delivery of Wire Train maybe a hint of The Church. Great! Violently We Try reminds me very much of the great cult new wave band Wire Train. Fantastic! Wendy Darling – has a dark pop new wave feel in a similiar vein to The Bravery. Damn catchy and great live! Red Letter Day – Another track to pound the darkwave dancefloor. Love it! Waves brings the album to a close with a hint of The Mighty Lemondrops washing over The Jesus & Mary Chain in mind blowing 80’s new wave ballard.Epic! What a great debut album!

The Anonymous EP was released earlier this year. Opening with Epilogue which is another stand out track in their live set and will have you bouncing around the floor. Pure new Wave mania. Wow! The Boy Who Tried – perfect darkwave pop with an eye firmly on the dancefloor. Nice! Beautiful Vacancy has the powerhouse new wave feel of The Church Great track! Considered The Thought – brings the EP to a close with another classic Astari Nite track. Love it!

Thanks to everyone who came along and enjoyed a great set from Skeletal Family. Darklands reverts to its familiar day of the month in April, but due to mix up by the venue who double booked a band for Saturday 11th April – DARKLANDS will be on Sat 18th April (3rd Saturday of the month).
We hope you can join us next month as we have a special UK exclusive release party for the excellent new album from :W:UMPSCUT – Blutspuker Tavern with lots of exclusive goodies to be won in the raffle – Full details TBA.